Malkieri Asha'man
by The Willing Pen
Summary: Rune Tridrogan knew that Malkier was a long dead nation, but his uncle always told him, "One Day the Golden Crane will fly again, and when that happens, we will be there like madmen, nipping at the Dark One's heels, with al'Lan Mandragon to lead us"


AN/ um so this is like a new and imporved first chapter... like triple the length and somewhat dodgey anyone wants to be a beta that would be cool.

Malkieri Asha'man

Chapter 1: Mountains, Stables and War.

Mucking out the horse stalls is not the way that Rune Tridrogan planned to spend his eighteenth name day, but as a horse handler for the House of Drake, he really could not slack work just because it was his name day, after all, great men weren't born by dodging around there duties, even If theirs were saving a princess from the blight, not mucking out the stalls in a lords manor..

The House of Drake was born shortly after the end of the Aiel war, Mathias Drake, or Lord Drake as he is known now, was a somewhat successful merchant who joined the Queens Guard as an officer and spent a lot of his fortunes investing into the army, giving over his wares at a severely marked down price for the good of Andor. The a small lordship given to lord Drake as the Aiel war ended, was then used to rope in army veterans who knew about his contributions to the war and soon were put to work on the Drake Plantation.

The Drake family had been working the north of Andor, on the northern most edge of the Bream Wood for four generations and the size of the plantation was quite large and growing ever quicker, many paddocks dotted the lands around the Plantation filled with various animals, cows, sheep, horses. The main source of income for the Drake family came from being located so near to the Bream Wood, the House of Drake employed almost a force of two thousand men to cut and log trees from the nearby forest, and as the Drakes have been working the land for more than two hundred years many faculties have grown around the once small lumber mill.

There were a whole host of Carpenters, many of whom came out to the Bream wood after the Aiel war to take refuge from the harsh life of a solider, along with many of the lumberjacks, there were blacksmiths who specialized in the making of logging tools, Taverns, for the rowdy lumberjacks to drink in after their work, farmers from the surrounding lands to support the large force of men, and even a small village growing around the logging trade. Slowly the Drake Plantation had grown from a small lumber mill, to a thriving and ever growing fully functional village, with families and all.

The Drake Plantation became a place of fine wood work, many years of fathers passing down their trade to their sons, the carpentry growing ever more detailed and sturdy. Many of the products that were produced with the plantation were then sold of to some of the most high profile locations. Large Cities like Tar Valon, Cairhien, Caemlyn, even the royal Palace had commissioned dressers and chest which were rumored to lie within the Queens very own Chambers.

With the Reputation that the Drake plantation was amassing there were orders coming from as far away as the lands Tear, Illian, and even Saldaea. The fine tables and cabinets were prided on there sturdiness using many of the dark, hard wooded trees that populated the Bream Wood to contrast detailed, elegant and durable wares. The Plantation was not only used for the fine carpentry shipped out to the rulers of the land, but the common woods that made up the forest were cut down as raw wood and shipped off to the near by villages, towns and the lords manors.

Considering the Size of the Plantation had grown to and was still growing ever larger, security became a great concern, theft was not a large threat, for who wants to steal tones of raw wood? With the large groups of burly men, tempers running wild, local disputes became more and more of a problem, which is what the town watch was for. But there was more to the Plantation recently, a great discovery, and a great security concern, and that was the discovery of raw gold.

Gold just sitting out in the very open, in the many creek beds that ran through the hills north of the plantation, only a half a days trek, and a couple of hours ride from the manor house, in the very heart of the plantation. The Drake family had put a lot of effort and gold into keeping this discovery of precious gold a secret, until such time that they could secured as much as they possible could for themselves. It was that specific reason that had Rune trapped, mucking out the Lords stables, on his eighteenth name day no less.

Rune's uncle Saul Wongron, a mercenary captain of high reputation, who had been taking care of Rune since he was a young impressionable boy of five, had been hired by Lord Drake to scout the area of the local forest up to a days ride from the very foot of the hills and map the streams, natural paths and hills of the mountainous terrain to the north.

Captain Wongron and his force of two hundred light cavalry, that had for the past fifteen years been working the lands of Cairhien, moving from lord to lord, fighting their battles for them at a reasonable price, had built up a reputation of being reliable, trustworthy, fierce, dangerous, and one of the most secretive band of mercenaries among those for hire. The two hundred cavalry traveled light to scout the area to the north of the Drake Plantation, and as Rune was not yet eighteen summers, Saul being the sadistic bastard that he was had forbidden Rune to join the scouting parties, even though his eighteenth name day was only five days away at the time that they had left. Instead he was pushed into work as a horse handler, waiting for his uncle to return with a complete and mostly reliable map for the hills to the north.

The Scouting Parties had almost been gone for full five days making sure to meet and match their hand drawn maps, making them as accurate as they possibly could before returning back to the Plantation to present the map to lord Drake. Considering what Rune had eavesdropped from the conversation between his uncle and the Lord Drake, the amount of free gold within the hills would need a constant guard so it would not get stolen. Being Mercenaries, Captain Wongron's men had undertaken many contracts, some requiring both defense and offence, but never before had they been commissioned to guard gold. When the party returned both Lord Drake and Captain Wongron would enter negotiations to the price of hiring the men to guard the gold, after he had personally seen what they would have to protect.

For Rune the prospect of being hired full time by lord Drake was somewhat disappointing, always dreaming of going out at his uncle's side charging into a heated battle with the odds stacked against them, but in the end they would prevail leaving the battle field, traveling to the local tavern to get roaring drunk, a lass on one knee and to his other side the man who saved his life as he fought besides him, repaying the favor ten times over during the battle.

On the other hand, staying in the lord Drake's employ seemed exciting in a very different manner to Rune, and one he would look forward to with glee if his uncle did decide to stay at the Drake plantation. That one thing that made being a horse handler for the past five days agreeable, he had been there was the fine grade of horse flesh for one, but more intriguing was the almost ever present, daughters Drake.

The daughters Drake were as rare a sight as any one man could hope for, both otherworldly beautiful but that is to be expected, as they were twins, identically so. Rose golden hair, seemingly very common among Andoran's flowed down their backs in ever increasing curls, reaching just above their hips. Softly sculpted face with high cheek bones, a small straight nose gave them a look that fits the ladies of the court, and not the rosy full cheek on country girls. Full, ripe red lips that curved into the most seductive smile, that set Runes face ablaze, sparkling eyes, the color of the ocean, a deep blue with just a whisper of green that gave a true smile that shines up the night, made the daughters Drake the most beautiful sight that the Drake plantation had to offer.

The daughters Drake, Annabelle and Isabelle, were the bells of the plantation, going on fifteen summers the two girls had become increasingly more independent of their mother and father, so say the servants, and seemingly starting to be ever more curious of the opposite gender, to be more specific, the new, well muscled horse handler, whose name happened to be, Rune Tridrogan.

Standing at little over six feet tall Rune had strong broad shoulders common among borderlanders, a strong heavily muscled back, currently straining under the weight of a bale of hay, long and at present untamed dark, black hair, a heavily muscled and bronzed chest and abdomen which was currently on display as Rune lifted heavy bundles of hay over his head and into the loft above the stables.

The sight that greeted young Isabelle and Annabelle that morning was of Rune, with sweat running down his chest, between the muscles of his abdomen, hair stuck to his back and chest as he climbed up the many stairs to the loft carrying a bale of hay. The sight made the girls quickly back around the corner of the stable doors and peek through the many holes on the side of the stable walls. They watched him for a time, going up and down the stairs carrying great bales of hay, watching the sweat run down his chest in small droplets, watching his arms tense as he grunts and throw the hay down from the loft and into the horses' pens.

After many of minutes, heated breaths, and wistful sighs from the twins they watched as Rune put away the pitchfork along one side of the wall and stalked gracefully back down the stairs, reaching his shirt, he picks it up and runs it along his forehead, and finally down his chest and stomach. As he does this he muscles tense unconsciously giving the two young, still developing, girls a sight of four rows of two tightly compressed muscle, as Rune slowly rubs his hands across them pushing sweat and grim out of the way.

Rune finishes wiping down his dirty and sweat covered body with his shirt before half putting it on, before looking at the state of it and throwing it back down on a small bench near by, picking up a water skin from near by he pulls out the cork and holds it above his head, feeling the water fall down into his mouth he gulps it down greedily before closing his mouth and letting it run down his face and chest, giving his head a shake he can see water fling out to the sides, at that moment he can hear two identical moans from the other side of the stable doors, freezing him in his tracks.

Turning towards the sound he took two steps forward searching for the cause of it, before he again heard two identical squeaks and a pair of running feat accompanied by the sound of girlish giggles. Running to the door Rune looked around it and saw the retreating backs of Annabelle and Isabelle Drake. Grinning stupidly to himself he knew he had caught the two girls admiring him and could not feel any prouder of himself.

Walking back into the Stables Rune once again dried himself off with his dirty shirt, tucking it under his arm he reached out and picked up the sheathed sword belt his uncle gave him for his sixteenth name day, the sword whilst not the greatest quality was still serviceable and would only have to keep him company until tonight, where he would be seen as a man in his uncle's eyes, as well as the soldiers and no longer just a boy. When that happened he would get a small piece of braided leather, which he would use to tie up his hair. It was an ancient tradition for the men of Malkier to wear there such, just as the Shienarian men had there hair done up in a top knot, it was a right of passage from boyhood into manhood. The _Hadori _was much more than just a sign of manhood anymore; it was one of the last remnants of a dead nation.

Malkier, once a great, powerful nation, home of the Seven Towers, Guardian of the Blight border, with the banner of the Golden Crane, they were a thorn in the Dark Ones foot, lay in ruins. Some forty years ago the land of Malkier was betrayed, none really knew how, says Rune's uncle, but it was a terrible tragedy. Remnants from the Trolloc wars, Malkier has always stood for what was right, protecting the lands to the south with unwavering strength, meeting every raid from the blight head on, pushing them all back, they stood unified, fearless, staring into the very jaws of almost certain death, but they stood strong and faced their betrayal, by their own flesh and blood, in the face taking down every filthy beast that they could before finally being crushed into the ground. They stood their ground as a nation and fell because there were those among them who lacked their strength.

The Mighty King and Queen of Malkier were there at the end, staring into the dark evil eyes of the shadow spawn without fear, rallying the whole nation to stand at the gate of oblivion and tear them down. Although the nation is dead and buried, the Seven Towers broken and desolate, her people still stand strong waiting for the signal to retake her lands long run over by the blight.

That signal was al'Lan Mandragon the uncrowned king of Malkier carried out of the nation's border as just a babe in swaddling, even as it crumbled behind him. As an infant the young prince was trained by the brave few of the Kings Guard that carried him from his home, in everything they could, from the sword, the bow, the spear, but most importantly about Malkier, that carried the boy out of Malkier riding horses to death to get the young boy to safety, into the heart of Shienar. To hear his uncle talk about al'Lan Mandragon, and his deeds as he grew, was like hearing him talk about the creator himself, in the same hushed revered voice, his eyes wide and moist, drifting off into a different, and better place, before being brought back to the cruel reality.

One day, his uncle said that al'Lan Mandragon would raise the Golden Crane Banner once again and whether or not anyone else would head his call, they would ride to his banner, Captain Wongron and all his men, would drop what ever they were doing and ride like crazed men, riding their prized horses to death, to be their for their uncrowned King. Rune could not help but agree with his uncle, being brought up by the men around him, many of them from Malkier herself, most born after her fall, like Rune himself, but his uncle and many like him old enough to remember the proud nation, breed the ideals of Malkier into all of them.

With his _Hadori _finally woven into his hair, Rune could fight come the day the Banner was raised, he would be there with unwavering strength, finally unified with all of his brothers from the long dead land of Malkier, unified, fearless, a thorn once again firmly stuck into the Dark One's Foot.

Rune to impatient about the coming night put on his dirtied shirt and rushed to the servants entrance to the manor, reaching the door Rune slowly inched the door to the kitchen open, seeing it unoccupied he rushed past the centre table and went up the back stairs, reaching the rooms allocated to his uncle he opened the door and went inside closing the door behind him he looked around them room.

The room was lavishly decorated, with fine wood work everywhere, a large bed with spirals worked into the arms, a cabinet with a design from the Aiel war depicted on the front, and a curved dresser on the side of the room next to the window. it was not such a surprise all the quest room were as such, having one of the most recognized carpentry workhouse not a five minutes walk from here, there was no reason to not have the better quality works in the lords own home.

Walking to a door within the room Rune opened it to display a much smaller room, with just a small bed, big enough for only a single man, and a dresser and wash table with a mirror on one side of the room. Technically this room was meant for a visiting lord's servant, but as Rune's uncle had no need of one, he gave the room to Rune, thinking it better that he stay there than in the servants quarters with the lord Drakes maids and body servants.

Rune walked over to the wash table whilst stripping off his shirt and breeches, as well as his boots. Picking up the wash clothe, he laid it in the cold water before raising it and rubbing himself down, making sure to clean himself as thoroughly as he could. Feeling the need to dress up on this occasion, his eighteenth name day he opened up one of his two saddle bags he pulled out a carefully rolled bundle of cloth revealing a clean finely spun white wool shirt, a pair of black breeches, and a dark brown jacket with a small stiff collar, decorated with small gold thread around the sleeves and collar.

Taking off his dirty stockings, he picked out a clean pair and put them on, pulling on the breeches, he shifted around a little once he had them on, feeling a little bit different on his body; his normal breeches were loose from thigh to foot, but slightly tight along the hips and crutch, allowing for comfort and maximum movement. The new, dressier breeches had the same tightness around the hips and crotch, but it tightened along the upper thigh and knees as well. Looking into the mirror the pants still looked straight, and not puffed out like some of the lords wear them, but his legs looked much more muscular, the tightness making them much more attractive.

Putting on the white wool shirt, he felt it tighten along the chest slightly, he was worried about that, he had the shirt tailored nearly a full year before, and he knew he had grown since then. Tucking the ends of the shirt into his breeches, he pulled on his jacket which his uncle got him nearly two months prior for a small gathering of lords near the west of Cairhien; his uncle was invited because his company of mercenaries had help wipe out the opposition threatening the lord. Then he had a newer shirt but it was ruined that night as a servant poured wine down the front, and a drunken lord ripped open off of the sleeves, luckily he had taken the jacket off almost as soon as he had arrived. The jacket now felt slightly loose, but looking into the mirror, he smiled at himself.

The tighter shirt showed off his broad chest, and if he only buttoned up the bottom half of the jacket it made his shoulders look much bigger than they were. Overall Rune thought he look very handsome, and only hope his uncle's soldiers did not poke too much fun at him for dressing up.

Before leaving the room Rune picked up the shabby sword fully expecting to throw it away later that night, knowing he was getting two, no three things, the first and foremost, the _Hadori _braided into his hair, and new sword, hopefully something in much better condition than his current one, and blind stinking drunk.

Leaving the room quietly Rune made his way back through the kitchens, snatching a heel of bread and a bit of cheese, and went outside to site in the sun and wait for his uncle to return. He looked up into the sky and saw that the sun was past noon, and was well on its way down, they should be back before dark, is what his uncle said, but Rune was happy to chew on his heel of bread and wait for them to return, too excited to do anything afraid of ruining his good clothes.

Moving quickly over a patch of clean cut grass Rune made his way past the stables and sat down on a large rock facing north, looking out for the riders. Moving his scabbard to the side to sit more comfortably, Rune felt an odd weight in his jacket pocket, reaching in he pulled out a silver mark. Looking at it closely he could tell it was of Cairhien make, being slightly thinner than those found in Andor, and most other nations. Placing the coin in the grove of his fingers, he tried to make the coin roll smoothly through his fingers like he saw some of the new Kandori do. The coin moved harshly across his fingers, not moving at the rapid pace that the coin did along the new Kandori mercenaries who joined them before taking on this job.

Sitting quietly on a rock Rune soon began to tire with boredom, sitting up from the rock Rune started to pace idly in front of the rock to get blood flowing back into his veins. Pulling off his jacket Rune threw it over the rock and then walked into patch of grass where the sunlit still shone brightly. Taking a calming breath Rune drew his sword and held it at the ready. In his mind Rune picture a single burning flame, and feed all his thoughts into it, the way the worn leather of the hilt felt against his hand, the distaste he had at the roughly made blade in his hands, his impatience for the night to begin.

The Void, his uncle called it was taught to every soldier along the blight border, they used it to control the fear that the shadowspawn incited in their hearts, here Rune used the void to focus his thoughts into helping him wield the blade, slowly the slight stiffness in his shoulder lessened, an effect of spending hours shoveling hay, and his muscles begun to fall into place. The void held complete for a full second before it started to stagger slightly, remaining in his mind but not all encompassing.

Rune and never been able to hold the void completely for more than a few seconds at a time, his concentration always begun to slip after it took hold of him. His uncle said that it was normal, many soldiers could never hold the void completely, until of course they had there first experience at battle, the first time their life is knowingly in real life threatening danger, the instincts kick in and the void encompasses them before they even think to put it into place. His uncle assured him that once he had that one life threatening experience he would have no trouble holding the void.

Shifting the swords slightly in his hands Rune took half a step back, before shifting his weight onto one foot before lifting the other off the ground, holding the sword above his head now, Rune released his breath after establishing his balance, this for was called Heron Wading in the Rushes, in combat it was a completely useless form, it left your body open for your opponent to strike at their leisure, but the form was important for balance. Rune always started his sword forms off with the stance, helping establish the balance Rune used whilst practicing, moving to reverse the position, Rune shifted slowly and smoothly until his weight was on the other foot. Balancing on his foot for close to fifteen seconds Rune breath started to slow, become deeper, and the void help slightly stronger. It was at this point that Rune attacked.

Moving through his set of forms, Rune exercised every muscle in his body, keeping at a constant pace, between a fast and sedate pace, Rune slowed the forms five minutes into the exercise not wanting to sweat to much already, and did his forms in a slow very sedate pace, Rune rarely did his forms at such a pace, preferring to do them at near real speed, believing it more effective training, but after only seven forms he could feel a heavy strain in his muscles, making them heavy and hard to move, his hopes of not sweating to much as he saw a droplet of sweat drop from his nose and hit the blade, which was low to his left after finishing The Creeper Embraces the Oak, the blade held low at the end, before moving into Lightning of Three Prongs, ending in a slash and then moving into The Boar Rushes Down the Mountain to end the set.

Letting out a long deep breath, Rune released his hold on the shaky void and immediately let out a groan before letting the still sword drop to the earth. Standing up straight rune slowly pulled the sword up, slid the length of the blade along the opening of the sheath before slowing sliding the blade in. hearing the small click of the metal guard of the blade hitting the guard on the sheath, Rune let the muscles in his back relax, feeling them heated now after holding the ready stance called Cat Crosses the Courtyard.

Looking down at his shirt, Rune could not help a small whine leaving his throat after taking in the moist patches around his armpits, and along the chest. Pulling the stuck shirt off his chest he felt a cool breeze float through, cooling the moisture on his chest and making him shiver slightly. Letting his shirt go, Rune gathered up his hair in his two fists before running his hands through it so it fell over his back, just above the shoulder blades. Reaching up he wiped along his forehead with his shirt sleeve, drying the sweat along there. Turning around Rune walked back to the rock, where his jacket rested and sat down; looking at the small clearing he saw there was only a small slither of light left, where when he had started the ground was bathed in the golden light of the sun.

Looking back to the North Rune let another sigh escape him as he moved his arms behind him and leant back on them. Thinking back on the exercise, he got fewer forms than he would usually but the muscles in his arms felt heavier than they normally would, holding the heavy sword steady throughout the forms was much harder than Rune would have believed, going through the forms faster sure had Rune out of breath more, but his muscle were rarely ever this tired.

Looking up to the sky Rune good see that the sun was only two fingers from the horizon, looking towards the mountains Rune could see a small plume of dust in the distance, a sure sign that a large party of men were moving over the land, even in the cool weather of the year. Standing up Rune put his jacket back on and fully buttoned it up to the collar feeling it feel somewhat uncomfortable restricting his neck.

Moving back towards the stables Rune went inside and collect up a stack of five buckets before moving out side and filling them full of water from the horse's trough and lined them out near a large clearing where a large multitude of tents were constructed where his uncle's men were currently bunked. Over the next hour Rune moved back and forth through the tents and stable well, filling up the quickly constructed troughs on the edges of the tents, where they would then be used to water the horses and men when they returned.

Not long after he finished filling the last trough, the advanced party from his uncle's men showed up, consisting of two of the primary scouts, his uncle, and the four lieutenants. The two scouts Davriam and Roland moved towards Rune with identical grins on their faces.

"Why hello their _Boy_ why don't you be a good lad and feed and water my horse, and give him a rubdown as well," stated Dav with an ever growing smirk, the emphasis on calling him boy clearly stated his purposes, giving him a good ribbing the last day that he would be considered a boy among these men, "and why not Roland's as well, there's a good _Boy_"

Roland gave a dry chuckle before hopping off his saddle and just standing there, holding out his reins towards Rune, Dav soon copied his movements. Sighing Rune moved forwards and took hold of the reins but could not stop a wide grin splitting his face as he did so, soon very soon he would be hailed as a man. Looking over he saw the four lieutenants hand their Reins off to a couple of the fifty or so men who stayed behind with the tents, before moving over to stand by his uncle, seeing Rune looking at him, Saul moved over to his nephew a grin appearing on his face identical to the ones on the scouts.

"Well _Boy _what are you standing around here for, I believe these _Men _asked you to do something, once your done come meet me in my tent, oh! and why don't you give Thunder a good rubdown." His uncle said whilst handing Rune the reins for his horse before moving towards the largest tent which was used as an office for his uncle during the day.

Rune quickly moved towards the empty lines which would soon be filled with horses, and removed the saddles, from the horses, tying them up near a trough, Rune left them to drink their fill before picking up each man's gear and moving it to the living areas. Heading back to the horses, Rune grabbed several handfuls of dry hay which he and the men who stayed behind carted to the horse lines in preparation earlier that day for the return of the other men. As Rune rubbed down each horse, he could not help a wild grin from his face even as his legs were pissed on in his inattention to the horses. Finishing up Rune moved the horses to the spots where the horses where meant to be so the soldiers knew where they were so they could be accessed quickly.

As he was heading to his uncle's tent the rest of the men started to arrive at a steady pace going through the procedures needed, relieving their horses of their burdens and then relaxing in their tents and generally going on about maintaining their equipment. Moving to the large tent, when Rune reached it he moved one side of the opening over before sliding into the tent and discreetly standing off to the one side against the wall. As he entered he made eye contact with his uncle before his uncle ignored him and went back to discussing things with his lieutenants.

The force of two hundred horsemen where separated into four large groups of fifty each lead by one of the four lieutenants in the room with Rune's uncle. These four groups where the four companies that made the body of the force, these where named simply the first through forth company and in each company they were separated into five units of ten, in each one of these units one of the ten men were allocated to lead and look after the nine men beneath him, to make sure they had all their equipment in order, their tents made promptly and set out in uniform with the other units.

These units where never separated and would often move between companies but would always have the same ten men within them unless they were lost in the fighting. Having the men separated like this made it very easy to keep track of them and also help great strategic value, if you knew the men fighting next to you, you were more likely to fight to keep him alive than yourself, and they would fight for you.

Rune's uncle might not know every name among his soldiers but he knew every unit leader personally, as well as the thirteen scouts that accompanied his force everywhere scouting to the front, the back and to the sides of where the force was likely travel as a full collection of two hundred.

There was also another force of men and women that accompanied the soldiers where ever they went, they numbered close to a hundred and consisted of wives, horse handlers, bakers, weavers, and many others that made this group of men work smoothly. This set up was a very large part to Captain Wongron's success as a sword for hire, many other mercenaries, almost all of them were just collections of men who were good with anything from a sword to the bow, spear to the axe, that stood under a captain with no real management or trust between the men as a whole. Their allegiance, like their employer, likely to change from job to job, never working together long enough to develop the trust of the man next to you to save their life.

This made most hired mercenaries not the ideal soldiers, they might works as a whole for the charge, the first five minutes of fighting, but after that it was every man for himself, working to save his own skin, but for the two hundred horsemen under Captain Wongron they've worked together for years and years, only introducing new blood after their numbers become to low, the teamwork, and trust between the soldiers made them willing to fight for not only themselves but for those around them, even if their pinned against the wall, they know that soon another company will be there soon to pull them out of the fire.

Rune turning his attention back to the council of men before him listened closely to what was being said.

"… agree to these terms and staying here will be no problem." said June Stephan, the lieutenant in charge of the second company.

"No problem he says, if Drake agrees to those terms not only will there be no bloody problem we'd be living in better conditions than we have for the past three years. If we're here as well we might look into expanding our forces, it has been too often now that we have come upon superior numbers, and here we will have time to train and integrate them with our own forces." Said Jacob, the forth companies leader, as he leant on the table to emphasis his point. There was a chorus of agreement among the five men before Rune's uncle spoke.

"It is a sound plan, I know we have some of these southerner's among our forces but I will feel much more comfortable, and so will the men for a matter, if most of our new recruits come from the borderlanders." Again there were nods among his peers. "but this is a discussion for another day, it is time I must go talk to the lord Drake, considering the amount of gold we found among the mountains there will be no problems about getting the lord to agree with us."

As the four lieutenants clasped arms with Saul they looked now behind them taking stock of Rune, Jacob was the first to develop the same grin that was on the two scout's faces earlier.

"Well look here Saul, your nephew has tried dressing up as a _man, _such a pity the _Boy _doesn't know his place, make sure you keep that blade away from him, he must of only of had it for a couple of days, he's more likely to cut himself than injure the enemy." Rune can't help but blush and feel embarrassed as he looks down at the ground as the other three men laugh loudly at this whilst his uncle just chuckles dryly.

As the lieutenants left they gave Rune a hard time making sure to call boy as much as they could before they leave. Once they were gone Rune looked at his uncle as he straped on his sword and put on a clean jacket from one of the chests on the side of the tent.

"Come on _Boy" _Captain Wongron says with a grin before he lead his nephew out of the tent and handing him a number of large rolled up parchments, and led them up towards the manor house. As they walked past the stable Rune caught a glance of golden rose hair flick around the corner of the barn.

Moving quickly in step behind his uncle, they soon reached the manor house. When they reached the door, they were met by one of the lord's servants who handed out warm towels to the two men, and looked disdainfully at there dusty clothes.

Arriving through the main entrance gave the two men time to take in the splendor of the large entrance hall, the stone workmanship, the well crafted furniture, and a large decorative carpet layered over the wooden floor of the hall.

"My lord Drake is waiting for you, if you will wait in the tea room while I get him?" said the nameless servant who started to walk to a pair of curved stairs leading upwards. Following behind his uncle Rune took the time to take in the magnificence of the small manor. The taste that the Lord Drake had differed from many of the Cairhienian lords had, their taste went to the lines of bright and flashy, gold everywhere lighting up the halls with the lord's wealth.

The lord Drake's manor showed great skill in craftsmanship with many decorative pieces of timber lining the walls, along with many tapestries, animals crafted deftly into the wood depicting scenes of hunting, one in particular caught Rune's eye, a wolf seemed suspended in midair and it fell on its prey of a young deer. The hairs of the wolf could be seen crafted into the wood expertly by the craftsman, and he could see a small pack of deer in the distance of the wall hanging.

Overall the feel of the manor was much warmer, and more welcome than any of the Cairhienian lords could hope to achieve. Soon the servant had led them to a large wooden door and opened it before standing to the side and motioning them forward.

Walking into the room behind his uncle Rune took stock of the room that they were in, this was one of the many rooms that Rune had not been into during his stay at the Drake manor and it was much the same as the many rooms within the manor with the homely atmosphere that permeated the manor. Moving to sit to the left of his uncle at the large low sitting table in the comfortable chairs and stared into the open fire.

"Listen closely Rune, when you do turn eighteen I will not put you into a place of authority straight away, because you do not deserve it. Not yet at any rate, but many of the men will expect you to lead them, they know you are my nephew and will believe that leadership is in your blood. I have raised you to handle many types of situations but from now on you will be sitting with me in any and all of these meetings. You must now become knowledgeable in Deas'demaer, the game of houses, you have to know how to maneuver others to your line of thought, and these southlanders do enjoy their games."

Nodding along with his Uncle Rune played close attention to the seriousness of the way his uncle spoke and took it to his heart, hanging off his every word.

"You must always appear confident and as unconcerned in others presence as possible, to give nothing away, these people deal in flowery words to try and confuse you, never accept or agree to _anything _until you have broken down what they have said and understand as much as you can. Do not be afraid to ask them to explain again, they might take this as a sign of weakness, but more information is always helpful, knowing more about any situation and looking the fool is always better than being ignorant and looking the fool after."

"Yes Uncle."

"Good, watch closely and if you must embrace the oneness, and for light's sake sit up straight!" turning away from his nephew Saul drew himself up in his seat and lounged, he did not slouched, he looked aware and ready. Rune soon copied his uncle posture but at a sharp look from his uncle, he straightened and sat stiffly in his chair. "We are not equals here Rune, I am in charge, and you are my aid, the way I am sitting show insolence and arrogance, you must appear to be at my call, it gives the appearance of power to have you at my beck and call, do you understand?"

"Yes Uncle."

Looking over his uncle Rune could see a small curve to his lips, indeed giving a very air of arrogance around him, Rune could see how the differing posture between himself and his uncle would indeed give his uncle the appearance of being in charge and in control. Rune knew in the animal kingdom most disputes were fought between displays of dominance and strength and rarely ever degraded into fights, people seemed to have this in common with the animals. The amount of stories his uncle's men shared of the enemy breaking before the charge even reached them showed the proof of this.

After many minutes of silence and waiting, Rune began to get edgy and uncomfortable and begun to fidget in his chair. His uncle took notice of his nephew's boredom and inattention and took him to task for it.

"Be still Rune, this is just a game, the lord knows we are here and will make us wait to make us lose our cool and concentration, if that happens he will have the advantage, we can wait it is no problem."

Rune nodded to his uncle, took a deep calming breath and sat up straight once again in his chair and no sooner had he regained his inner calm, the door open and in walked a moderately tall man with thinning blond hair and self assured stride and a slight strain to his jacket.

"Welcome to my humble manor Captain Wongron, I do hope your scouting trip proved to be successful?" the man Rune recognized as Lord Drake moved into the room and moved around to where his Uncle was sitting who stood to shake his hand. Rune stood waiting for the lord to reach him, but he soon moved to the other side of the table and sat down facing Saul. Taking his seat after his Uncle sat he made sure his back was straight and waited for his uncle to speak.

"My Lord Drake, a pleasure to see you once again. Rune the maps, as you can see for yourself we have a complete map of the area you wanted to scout and more." Picking up the rolls of parchment Rune polled them out onto the table and held two corners down before his uncle put two heavy Andoran gold crowns on the two corners and slid two across to lord drake to do the same.

The Lord Drake took some time studying the map with a look of concentration on his face, Rune soon noticed that the lord was looking at it upside down and moved to shift it around before his uncle stopped his hands and shook his head at his nephew.

"Yes well it looks quite comprehensive, but I am afraid I do not have the time to read it over for myself," the lord slid the gold crowns off the map and rolled it up and slid it down to his side. "I will give it to my retainers to look over it in greater detail later, but what I wish to know more is the amount of raw gold you found in those mountains."

"If I may?" Saul stood up and walked over to the lord and gestured to the map rolled up to his side. Once the lord gave a nod Saul picked up the map and rolled it onto the table. From his position he was looking at it upside down, he looked to the lord and gave him a smile before he slowly turned the map around the right way around. "If you will pin down those corners Rune.

You see my lord there are two systems of streams and creek we found in the mountains and it is only in one of these systems that there was any visible gold. As my men and I do not have any experience with mining and the like we can only guess as to why, but as I understand it gold has to be dug out of the ground yes? But we do have knowledge of the wilderness, and we know that in the second system of creeks, where the gold is found, there are many new formations of streams and creeks. It is my guess that a natural spring must have broken through the ground through where the gold is and brought it up with it. There are three springs that we have found, here, here, and here," Saul pointed out three locations along the eastern mountains, where the beginnings of creeks formed in the height of the hills.

"We are lucky in this that these streams are to the east and not to the west, where they would have joined the River Haerim, so it is there in any of these locations where the gold must be coming from, vast amounts more than are in the creek beds. It is my suggestion to you my lord that you find some experienced miners and find where it is coming from."

Rolling up the map Saul tucked it under his arm and lounged back down into his seat projecting an air of smug arrogance whilst staring into the lords greedy, yet cautious eyes. The lord slowly sat back down and stared dispassionately at the mercenary captain.

"It is clear to me that with this new found opportunity comes a much greater risk. As you know, here we are outside any boundaries, holding no allegiance to any country, but I myself and the men and women who live here believe ourselves to be of the proud nation of Andor, for as long as we have lived and worked this land we have had no laws except that of common decency, no taxes or anything of the like, but this requires much greater thought than just gold in the creeks."

"I agree my lord, I am sure you are wary of the way your villagers will act? Surely you will have to give allegiance to one country or another, because as soon as word gets out that there are rich veins of gold in these mountains, it will lead to intense fighting to see which country will lay claim to the land first. Cairhien is in civil war, but one lord or another will try to claim the land to get favor with the king, and Andor will not give up a resource like this so close to its borders. They do not want war, so as soon as one nation lays physical claim to the land, the other back off, you have the power here, to chose before the fighting ever breaks out."

"The very thoughts in my own mind, but Andor hardly have the resources, or man power to secure this location, and my men here do not have the training to do it, but I am sure you have thoughts on how to deal with this situations too? You have me off kilter and to your mercy, as you are well aware of, what are your terms."

Rune was a bit shocked he had stayed silent through out the two men's conversation and was a little off kilter himself, the most he had understood of the whole conversation was the small part about the natural springs, but soon the talk had gone to war, Rune understood fighting, but hardly the concept of war, he had thought that the gold would be Lord Drake's through and through, but now that it had been explained it was easy to understand the possible outcomes, but Rune thought that the Drake Plantation already was Andoran soil, to here it was free land was more than shocking and no sooner had the talk of war begun the terms were being hashed out.

It was soon decided that they were no longer to be mercenaries! Rune only just held back a cough when his uncle agreed to become under the lords banner, later Saul had told his nephew that this was the place to be fighting out his retirement, comfortable lodgings, lots of gold, and security of work. The fighting would be more intense doing this job Rune was told, guarding shipments of gold over large distances would be incredibly hard, but the men would agree, fifteen years of fighting from banner to banner was not the way to live into your old age.

It was agreed finally that every man among his uncles men would stay for the duration of two months with a higher pay than any other job before hand, and after that time, whom ever chose to could go or leave. In this time, it would be the men's job to train close to five hundred of the young men from lumber yard and village to fight on horseback to battle ready standard, and after that time every single man who chose to stay from the mercenaries and the newly trained men would be inducted as the Lord Drake's retainers and the Rose Crown of Andor.

Saul Predicted that only the older men among the mercenaries would stay after the two months of training, the young to proud and fool hardy to call it a day and lay down the adventure seeking attitude to become guards and would go off to join other companies of mercenaries to find themselves some glory.

Even still that would leave close to fifty men from the original sell-swords staying behind for the security of a constant paying job. Those were the terms only if the mountains yield large quantities of gold, if they yield poorer results the men would still stay behind for two months to train the local boys, but after that time the mercenaries would leave with the pick of eighty of the boys who wished to go with them.

Either way, Saul was ecstatic with either result, but the younger men would be much more agreeable to the second outcome, either way Rune was committed to staying by his uncle's side, either way the men trained by his uncle would be inducted into the Queen's Guard, at least some of them, and the Queen's guard held as many, if not more chances for glory.

With the terms hashed out and the payment for the scouting of the mountains being paid, an amount the lord Drake felt that was too much, as did Saul, they left the manor after declining the Lord's invitation for dinner, and headed to the camp to spread the news.


End file.
